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In a recent interview, Foreign Minister Kotzias stated:"The era when playing the chicken was considered diplomacy is over. This is diplomacy for the chicken coop, not for foreign policy.".

This specific formulation constitutes a clear accusation against previous governments for pursuing a phobic foreign policy, without providing further clarification. According to the ministerial statement, Greek foreign policy is possessed by a kind of cowardice, which resembles the condescending attitude of friendly birds towards the rooster in the morning hours.

A little more sophisticatedly, Mr. Kotzias indirectly referred to game theory and the well-known "game of chicken" (Chicken Game). Briefly, this game describes a race between two cars that are moving head-on. The stake, in the form of a bet, consists of which of the two drivers will chicken out at the last moment and turn the car to avoid a collision. As a theoretical construct, it is a mixed-sum game, in which the actors have two choices, either to stay and take risks or to retreat and lose. In the case of Greece, the Minister argues that our country usually functions as a "chicken".

It is a fact that Greek foreign policy is dominated by ingrained beliefs and practices that prevent both the more rational determination of what is called the national interest, and its optimal service, based on what, for better or worse, constitutes the most important tool in the exercise of a state's foreign policy, namely power. The recent Prespa agreement demonstrated two things: first, the lack of information among the opposition parties on such an important issue, and second, the tendency of the responsible minister to self-satisfactorily present himself as the politician who will resolve - as a solution maker - the outstanding issues of Greek foreign policy, in contrast to his predecessors.

It is obvious that the current government wishes to resolve the open issues of our foreign policy, which is a completely legitimate ambition. In general, and more so recently, the stance of the Minister of Foreign Affairs and by extension the government undermines the necessary, for every country, consensus of the political forces at home, so that the goals of the state in the international system can be more easily achieved.

Undoubtedly, most states in the international system have outstanding issues and this is not a Greek peculiarity.Many countries, even those that consider negotiations to be a positive-sum game, ultimately do not agree, fearing that their national interests will be harmed by the effects of an agreement that will bring unequal benefits. In this specific case, the previous governments did not reach an agreement with FYROM because they considered it detrimental to our interests to recognize a "Macedonian" identity and language in the neighboring country. They also did not want to create more problems at home than what an agreement would solve.

In the same interview, the Minister of Foreign Affairs stated: "Our country is determined to send a message to the East and the West, to all our friends and not, that for anyone who violates the principles of sovereignty and respect towards us, corresponding measures will be taken."

The statement is absolutely correct, in principle, except that Greece's sovereign rights are violated daily in the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean. In the coming period, when the dispute will intensify, we expect the government to act accordingly towards the neighboring country. It would be useful and fair to also check other diplomatic and consular authorities.on whether they act in accordance with their duties, as defined in diplomatic and consular law. Returning to ornithology and from what I know, having grown up in the city, in the chicken coop there is a hierarchy of power and one rooster dominates the others, and acts by nature on the hens. Therefore, the way the chicken coop operates and the international system are not as different as the Minister is harping on. I am glad that Mr. Kotzias does not like the role of the “hen”. I hope he finds a way to tame the “rooster” of the neighborhood.